Humans are exposed to hundreds of environmental factors such as chemicals, lifestyle, and social factors throughout their lifetime. One of the main goals of public health is to identify potentially modifiable risk factors, defined as the exposome, that could be targeted to reduce the burden of diseases in the population. Since people are exposed daily to hundreds of environmental pollutants, environmental exposures cover a considerable portion of the exposome.
An environmental mixture can be defined as a group of three or more chemicals/pollutants to which we are simultaneously exposed. Environmental epidemiologic studies to estimate the health effects of environmental mixtures using conventional statistical methods have multiple methodological challenges, including model misspecifications, multiple testing, and multicollinearity for high dimensional multiple correlated chemicals. In the last few years, novel and innovative statistical methods were developed and applied to understand the effect of environmental mixture exposure instead of considering one pollutant/chemical at a time in the statistical model.
This Research Topic aims to contribute to filling the knowledge gap about the potential health effects of environmental mixtures using novel and innovative statistical methods and address the challenges of identifying combined effects of mixture exposure, their interaction, dose-response relationships, and mediation effects in health outcomes. Considering these points, this Research Topic welcomes Original Research papers that would identify the exposome, and environmental mixtures burden of diseases and propose potential mechanisms for addressing methodological challenges. Furthermore, environmental mixture studies that can guide public health interventions and policies are also welcome. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
• Exposome paradigm to study the impact of environmental mixture on health;
• Recent advancements in statistical methods to address mixture effects on health;
• Identify the main effects of mixture exposures, interactions, and dose-response relationships with outcomes of interest;
• Causal effects of environmental mixtures on health outcomes;
• Mediating effects of environmental mixtures on social determinates of health (SDOH) and health;
• Interactions of chemicals with nutrients: e.g., toxic metals and essential metals;
• Time-varying effects of environmental mixtures on health;
• Determine of safety levels of chemicals;
• Optimal levels of nutrients (essential metals) with the interaction of chemicals on outcomes of interest;
• Environmental health inequalities and justice in the context of mixture exposures;
• Environmental mixture burden of diseases;
• Systematic reviews and meta-analysis on environmental mixture studies;
• Public health interventions and policies based on the environmental mixture exposures.
Humans are exposed to hundreds of environmental factors such as chemicals, lifestyle, and social factors throughout their lifetime. One of the main goals of public health is to identify potentially modifiable risk factors, defined as the exposome, that could be targeted to reduce the burden of diseases in the population. Since people are exposed daily to hundreds of environmental pollutants, environmental exposures cover a considerable portion of the exposome.
An environmental mixture can be defined as a group of three or more chemicals/pollutants to which we are simultaneously exposed. Environmental epidemiologic studies to estimate the health effects of environmental mixtures using conventional statistical methods have multiple methodological challenges, including model misspecifications, multiple testing, and multicollinearity for high dimensional multiple correlated chemicals. In the last few years, novel and innovative statistical methods were developed and applied to understand the effect of environmental mixture exposure instead of considering one pollutant/chemical at a time in the statistical model.
This Research Topic aims to contribute to filling the knowledge gap about the potential health effects of environmental mixtures using novel and innovative statistical methods and address the challenges of identifying combined effects of mixture exposure, their interaction, dose-response relationships, and mediation effects in health outcomes. Considering these points, this Research Topic welcomes Original Research papers that would identify the exposome, and environmental mixtures burden of diseases and propose potential mechanisms for addressing methodological challenges. Furthermore, environmental mixture studies that can guide public health interventions and policies are also welcome. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
• Exposome paradigm to study the impact of environmental mixture on health;
• Recent advancements in statistical methods to address mixture effects on health;
• Identify the main effects of mixture exposures, interactions, and dose-response relationships with outcomes of interest;
• Causal effects of environmental mixtures on health outcomes;
• Mediating effects of environmental mixtures on social determinates of health (SDOH) and health;
• Interactions of chemicals with nutrients: e.g., toxic metals and essential metals;
• Time-varying effects of environmental mixtures on health;
• Determine of safety levels of chemicals;
• Optimal levels of nutrients (essential metals) with the interaction of chemicals on outcomes of interest;
• Environmental health inequalities and justice in the context of mixture exposures;
• Environmental mixture burden of diseases;
• Systematic reviews and meta-analysis on environmental mixture studies;
• Public health interventions and policies based on the environmental mixture exposures.